7Zhaozhou Takes the Hall上堂

師上堂云：「若是久參底人，莫非真實，莫非亘古亘今。若是新入眾底人，也須究理始得。莫趂者邊三百、五百、一千，傍邊二眾叢林稱道好箇住持，洎乎問著佛法，恰似炒沙作飯相似，無可施為，無可下口，却言他非我是，面赫赤地。良由世間出非法語。真實欲明者意，莫辜負老僧。」問：「在塵為諸聖說法，總屬披搭，未審和尚如何示人？」師云：「什麼處見老僧？」學云：「請和尚說。」師云：「一堂師僧總不會這僧語話。」別有一僧問：「請和尚說。」師云：「你說我聽。」問：「真化無跡，無師弟子時如何？」師云：「誰教你來問？」學云：「更不是別人。」師便打之。問：「此事如何辨？」師云：「我怪你。」學云：「如何辨得？」師云：「我怪你不辨。」學云：「還保任否？」師云：「保任不保任自看。」問：「如何是無知解底人？」師云：「說什麼事？」問：「如何是西來意？」師下禪床。學云：「莫便是否？」師云：「老僧未有語在。」問：「佛法久遠，如何用心？」師云：「你見前漢後漢把欖天下，臨終時半錢也無分。」問：「時人以珍寶為貴，沙門以何為貴？」師云：「急合取口。」學云：「合口還得也無？」師云：「口若不合，爭能辨得？」問：「如何是趙州一句？」師云：「半句也無。」學云：「豈無和尚在？」師云：「老僧不是一句。」問：「如何得不被諸境惑？」師垂一足，僧便出鞋，師收起足，僧無語。有俗官問：「佛在日，一切眾生歸依佛。佛滅度後，一切眾生歸依什麼處？」師云：「未有眾生。」學云：「現問次。」師云：「更覓什麼佛？」問：「還有不報四恩三有者也無？」師云：「有。」學云：「如何是？」師云：「這殺父漢，筭你只少此一問。」問：「如何是和尚意？」師云：「無施設處。」

Zhaozhou took the high seat and said: "If you've trained a long time, you're already the real thing. What in you isn't true? What in you doesn't run straight through past and present? But the newcomers had better dig into the principle. Don't just trail along in the crowd, three hundred, five hundred, a thousand of you. Out there the two assemblies and the monasteries call so-and-so a fine abbot. Then someone asks him about the Dharma and it's like frying sand to make rice: nothing he can do with it, nothing he can get his mouth around. So he says everyone else is wrong and he's right, and his face goes beet red. All because the world keeps spouting talk that isn't the real teaching. If you actually want my meaning, don't let me down."

A monk asked: "Preaching the Dharma to the saints while still in the dust, that's all just dressing up. So how do you show it to people?"
Zhaozhou said: "Where do you see me?"
The monk said: "Please, just say it."
Zhaozhou said: "Not one monk in this whole hall gets what this man is saying."
Another monk asked: "Please, say it."
Zhaozhou said: "You say it. I'll listen."

A monk asked: "When the true teaching leaves no trace, no master, no disciples, what then?"
Zhaozhou said: "Who told you to come ask?"
The monk said: "There's nobody else here."
Zhaozhou hit him.

A monk asked: "How do I sort this thing out?"
Zhaozhou said: "I can't figure you out."
The monk said: "How do I sort it out?"
Zhaozhou said: "What I can't figure out is that you can't sort it out."
The monk said: "Can you vouch for it?"
Zhaozhou said: "Vouch for it or not, look for yourself."

A monk asked: "What's a person with no knowledge and no understanding?"
Zhaozhou said: "What are you even talking about?"

A monk asked: "What's the meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West?"
Zhaozhou climbed down off his seat.
The monk said: "Isn't that it?"
Zhaozhou said: "I haven't said anything yet."

A monk asked: "The Dharma goes on forever. How should I put my mind to work?"
Zhaozhou said: "Look at the Former Han and the Later Han. They had the whole empire in their grip. At the end they didn't own half a coin."

A monk asked: "People prize jewels and treasure. What does a monk prize?"
Zhaozhou said: "Shut your mouth, quick."
The monk said: "Does shutting it get me anywhere?"
Zhaozhou said: "If you don't shut it, how could you ever sort anything out?"

A monk asked: "What's Zhaozhou's one phrase?"
Zhaozhou said: "There isn't even half a phrase."
The monk said: "But surely you're here?"
Zhaozhou said: "I'm not a phrase."

A monk asked: "How do I keep from being fooled by everything around me?"
Zhaozhou stuck out one foot. The monk brought him a sandal. Zhaozhou pulled his foot back in. The monk had nothing to say.

A layman official asked: "While the Buddha was alive, every living being took refuge in the Buddha. After the Buddha passed into nirvana, where do all living beings take refuge?"
Zhaozhou said: "There aren't any living beings yet."
The official said: "But I'm asking you right now."
Zhaozhou said: "What other Buddha are you hunting for?"

A monk asked: "Is there anyone who doesn't repay the four kindnesses and the three existences?"
Zhaozhou said: "There is."
The monk said: "Who?"
Zhaozhou said: "You father-killer. Count yourself short by exactly this one question."

A monk asked: "What's your meaning?"
Zhaozhou said: "There's nothing to set up."

Pointer

Another hall session: a brief address, then questions batted back one by one. Zhaozhou opens with a jab at the famous abbots of the day, the kind everyone praises until someone asks them about the Dharma and it turns out to be "frying sand to make rice," all show, nothing edible. Then the monks line up, and almost every one tries to corner him into stating the truth out loud: say the phrase, name the meaning, vouch for the answer. He won't, because anything you can pocket and carry off has already stopped being the thing. "The meaning of Bodhidharma coming from the West" is once more the question of what all this is for, and he answers by silently climbing down off his chair, then denying he said anything. The "four kindnesses and three existences" is just Buddhist debt-language for everything you owe, parents, teachers, ruler, the world; calling the questioner a father-killer is theater, not accusation, his way of saying the question itself proves the man is still tangled in owing and repaying.